Holder for fuses and other articles



Jan, 28, 1958 D. F. LlNLE HOLDER FOR FUSES AND OTHER ARTICLES Filed Jan. 18, 1955 J r 7529/ 5 i W United States Patent HOLDER FGR FUSES AbID OTHER ARTICLES Douglas F. Linsley, Westport, Conn., assignor to Linsley Incorporated, Westport, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application January 18, 1955, Serial No. 482,633

2 Claims. (Cl. 211-13) This invention relates to a holder for various articles, such, for example, as plug type electrical household fuses, for holding paint cans for use in holding paint while applying it to a surface, and various other articles, and has for an object to provide a-holder of this type with holding means in which the article may be easily and quickly inserted, and which will have effective means for holding and retaining the article but still from which the article may be readily removed.

Another object is to provide a holder of this type which may be made of molded plastic material, which will not only effectively retain the article in the holder but will have sufiicient flexibility and resiliency to adjust itself automatically as the article is inserted and compensate for variations in the articles within manufacturing tolerances.

For example, it is common practice for a householder to maintain several replacement electrical fuses near the fuse box of the house wiring system for easy replacement, should for any reason a fuse be blown, and thus maintain the house circuits in proper operating condition. However, in the usual installations there are no facilities for properly storing or holding extra fuses near the fuse box where they are easily available, or whereby a householder can rely on always easily and quickly locating a new fuse for replacement.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a simple and effective holder for a number of these replacement fuses, which may befilled and sold on a store counter as a unit comprising both the holder and a series of fuses, and which holder containing the fuses can be located closely adjacent the fuse box and supported on any suitable support adjacent thereto, so that the extra fuses are always available and may be easily and quickly located for replacement.

Another object is to provide a holder of this type which may be adapted for holding other similar articles such, for example, as a can of paint while being used for supplying the paint in applying it, the holder acting not only to retain the can for easy access to the paint, but the paint spilled or running over the outer surface of the can will run down into the holder and be collected therein instead of soiling the floor or other support on which it may be placed.

Another object is to provide a holder of this type which is very simple in construction and may be manufactured at low cost from molded plastic material of various colors, not only for an attractive appearance but also to indicate different grades, types, or quality of the articles supported or held in it.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, I have devised the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification. It is, however, to be understood the invention is not limited to the specific details of construction and arrangement shown, but may embody various changes and modifications within the scope of the invention.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a holder according to this invention, which is constructed and formed particularly for holding the plug type of household fuses and similar articles;

Fig. 2 is a partial side View and partial section thereof;

Fig. 3 is an end view looking from the left of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the right hand half of the holder;

Fig. 5 is a detail section substantially on lines 5-5 of Fig. l on a somewhat larger scale;

Fig. 6 is a section of a portion of a modified construc- I tion showing how it may be modified for different shaped articles.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, the device shown is constructed to hold a plurality of the replacement electric fuses of the plug type, one of which is indicated at 12, including a glass or porcelain body 13, the screw shell contact 14 and the central contact 15, adapted to be threaded into the usual socket in the fuse box of a house wiring system, as is well known. The holder is shown as having facilities for holding four of these fuses, but it will be understood the number may be varied as desired. The holder shown is formed of one single integral piece of material, preferably a suitable molded plastic material, such, for example, as polystyrene or similar material, and may be made from an extruded sheet of this material formed on a suitable pattern or mold while heated to a plastic condition, by'the vacuum and/ or drape method, and it may be formed of various colors as desired. In the specific form shown it comprises a body member to including a top wall 17 from the opposite side edges of which are downwardly extending or depending side walls 18. At the lower edges of these side walls are outwardly extending base portions 19 including downwardly extending walls 20 at the outer edges of these base portions, terminating in an outwardly extending peripheral rib or flange 21. Between the side walls 18 are downwardly extending walls 22 depending from the top wall 17 forming a series of longitudinally spaced cupped sockets 23 opening through this top wall, with the bottoms of the sockets of any suitable shape, but preferably substantially a spherical shape as shown at 24, this bottom, however, terminating above the lower edge of the peripheral flange 21 so that when the device is placed on a support the bottoms of these sockets are supported above the surface of the support.

Each socket is provided with a plurality of upright ribs 25 projecting inwardly from the side walls of the socket and laterally or peripherally spaced from each other about the socket. The number of ribs may vary, but it is preferred to use three of them equally spaced, as shown in Fig. l, as by this arrangement the inserted article, such as the fuse plug 12, is automatically centered in the socket and gripped and held equally by each of the ribs. At its upper end the rib is downwardly and inwardly inclined, as shown at 26, to act as a guide to facilitate insertion of the article into the socket, and its free edge is also downwardly and inwardly inclined below the inclined top end to the shoulder 28 to increasing grip the sides of the article as it is inserted in the socket. The inner or free edge 27 of the rib is preferably also curved transversely on the arc of a circle struck about the center of the socket, so as to increase the gripping and engaging surface of the ribs on the article being held, and also to reduce wear on these ribs in inserting and removing the article. Each rib is provided with a transverse upwardly facing shoulder 28 spaced above the bottom of the socket on which the lower end of the article may seat, as shown in Fig. 2, to support the article and hold it above the bottom of the socket. With this arrangement, in the case of a fuse plug, for example, the plug is so supported that the central contact is spaced above the lower end or bottom of the socket and prevented from being forced through this relatively thin wall at the bottom of the socket and breaking it. The shoulder 28 can be confined to the rib, but in the case of the circular socket shown in this particular de vice it is preferred to extend the shoulder all the way around the periphery of the socket, so that there is also a shoulder 28:: in the side Walls between the ribs, and the entire periphery of the plug is supported on the shoulder.

The side walls 18 are preferably made concave or curved between adjacent sockets, as shown at 29, to add strength and rigidity to the side walls, and they may also include upwardly extending concavo-convex ribs 30 to still further increase the strength and rigidity of these side Walls'for' a given thickness of material. The base portions 19 are extended at the opposite ends of the body, as shown at 31 and 32, and provided with means for securing the device to a suitable support such, for example, as a hook-shaped recess 33 at one end and a countersunk opening 34 at the other end to receive securing screws, or with the hook 33 it may be hooked over a nail, wire or similar support.

The holder may be molded to shape by different methods, but preferably it is molded by the so-called vacuum and/ or drape method, in which an extruded sheet or the plastic material of proper thickness, heated to a suitable temperature to make it more plastic, is placed over a mold of the proper shape, after which vacuum or reduced pressure is applied to the under side of the sheet, drawing it down over the mold, which gives it the desired shape, the atmospheric pressure on top of the sheet thus effecting the molding operation. As this material is forced down to form the side walls 18 of the body and also the side walls 22 of the sockets, the thickness of the wall is automatically reduced from that of the original sheet as the material is stretched or elongated, providing a thickness tapering toward the bottom, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 5, but the top wall 17 retains its original thickness, providing the necessary strength and rigidity. Also the angular or U-shaped section of this top and the side walls of both the body and the sockets provide additional strength and stiffness. However, the side Walls of the socket between the ribs are sufliciently flexible and resilient that they may flex and permit the ribs to shift and adjust themselves automatically to variations in the shape and sizes of the articles inserted therein, such, for example, as the fuse plugs, within the manufacturing tolerances. The outwardly extending flange 21 also increases the strength and rigidity of the lower portion of the side wall and the base portions of the body member. The side walls 18 and ribs and 25 are inclined so the device can be drawn off the pattern mold. This flange 21 also provides a support and limiting means for a molded plastic material cover 35 which may be used if desired for enclosing the holder and the articles inserted therein, as shown in Fig. 2. This includes a top wall 36 and downwardly and outwardly inclined side walls 37 and end walls 38, with the lower edges of these walls telescoped snugly over the depending outer edges20 of the base portions 19, and seating at their free edges on the flange 21.

In use, the article, such, for example, as the fuse plugs 12, may be easily inserted in the sockets and the ribs 25 will automatically yield and adjust themselves to re siliently grip and hold the sides of the articles, as in the case of this plug, the outer edges of the threads on the screw shell 14, the lower edge of this shell resting on the shoulders 28 and 28a, to support the lower end, in

thisv case the central contact 15, above the relatively thin lower end or bottom 24 of the socket and prevent this end of the article being forced through this wall of the socket. When wanted for use the article may be easily and quickly removed from the holder by merely withdrawing it therefrom, and used as desired. The holder is light weight and attractive in appearance and may be molded of different colors. It may be mounted by the user adjacent the fuse box and filled with the desired replacement fuses, or it can be filled with the fuses and sold as a unit by the dealer.

In Fig. 6 is shown how the sockets may be made of different shapes to hold different articles. In this case, for example, the same body member is formed with substantially square sockets 39 between the side walls 18 to receive a substantially square article 40, such, for example, as a can of tooth powder, talcum powder, or the like, and in each of the four side walls of the socket is formed the upright rib 41 the same as the ribs 25 of the first form to grip and hold the article, and each provided with a transverse shoulder (not shown) corresponding to the shoulders 28 on'the first form on which the lower end of the article may rest. The socket could also be provided with shoulders 42 between the ribs forming extensions of the shoulders on the ribs. Otherwise the holder is the same as that of Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, I claim:

1. A holder for electrical plug type fuses including a screw shell contact and a reduced central contact below it forming a shoulder between them, comprising a body member of molded plastic material including a top wall and side walls depending from the opposite edges ofthe top wall, a plurality of longitudinally spaced cup-shaped sockets opening through the top wall and depending therefrom between the side walls, the side walls of the sockets being provided with a plurality of laterally spacedupright ribs projecting inwardly from said walls, with the inner edges of said ribs tapering inwardly toward their lower ends to grip the sides of the screw shells of the fuses inserted in the sockets, the upper ends of said ribs being further inclined to facilitate insertion of the plugs, said ribs also provided with transverse upwardly facing shoulders spaced below the top and above the bottom of the socket on which the shoulder on the plug rests to support the plug with the central contact spaced above the bottom of the socket, and the side walls of the sockets including the ribs being flexible and resilient to permit the ribs to yield and adjust themselves to compensate for variations in the plugs.

2. The holder according to claim 1 in which there are outwardly extending base portions at the lower edges of the side walls at the opposite ends of the body, one of which is provided with an opening and the other provided with a hook-shaped recess adapted to receive securing screws.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 170,846 Bassler Nov. 17, 1953 1,857,984 Swift May 10, 1932 2,006,827 Feiler July 2, 1935 2,115,654 Swoiford Apr. 26, 1938 2,429,063 Jones et al Oct. 14, 1947 2,460,427 Musselman et al Feb. 1, 1949 2,466,875 Brandt Apr. 12, 1949 2,563,455 Brown Aug. 7, 1951 2,611,477 Keys Sept. 23, 1952 2,690,947 Roehrl Oct. 5, 1954 

